


how youth should be

by winterberry_holly



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alcohol, Drabbles, Drunken Shenanigans, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:47:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27460687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winterberry_holly/pseuds/winterberry_holly
Summary: a home for my shorter Team Gai oneshots, drabbles, and other odds and ends2) the exchange:“It’s only temporary,” Gai-sensei murmurs to Neji alone, gently resting his hand on his shoulder. Almost like he believes Neji needs the reassurance.Neji does not need the reassurance, of course. The opportunity to study under the Copy Ninja himself is thrilling. He is obviously thrilled.That is the only reason that his lungs feel like they’re shrinking in on themselves before his first training session with Kakashi-sensei.
Relationships: Gai-han | Team Guy & Maito Gai | Might Guy, Hatake Kakashi & Maito Gai | Might Guy, Hyuuga Neji & Rock Lee & Tenten, Hyuuga Neji/Tenten
Comments: 14
Kudos: 46





	1. designated driver

**Author's Note:**

> I was overwhelmed by the response to my last fic, and I want to say thank you to everyone who read, left kudos, commented, and otherwise enjoyed it! Thank you so much!
> 
> I have several longer oneshots/AUs in progress for NaNoWriMo, but I wanted a place to throw odds and ends in the meantime, so this is that place! Hope you enjoy these smaller bites in between.
> 
> Specific content warnings: heavy alcohol use/intoxication. Takes place in a Neji Lives post-war AU.

Lee hadn’t intended to let them get quite this bad, but in his defense, Tenten had started it.

Already a couple of drinks in, she’d loudly declared that she wanted to challenge Neji to a drinking contest, to which Neji had replied that it would be exclusionary of them to start a drinking contest since Lee could not participate, to which Tenten had replied that he and Lee exclude her from their challenges all the time, and _wow, had Lee noticed how particularly cowardly Neji was looking this evening, _to which Neji had responded by walking up to the bar and very sweetly ordering a bottle of shōchū for the table, only to slam it down between himself and Tenten and implore Lee to _please do them the honor of pouring the first round so Tenten will be quiet already._

And Lee could have stopped it, he supposes, but they’d gotten caught up in the thrill of competition (as the three of them are wont to do), and he couldn’t help cheering on Tenten and Neji as they downed glass after glass…

And now he has two belligerently drunk teammates to show for it.

“Neji,” he asks for the thousandth time, “please, just get on my back.”

Even this intoxicated, Neji can manage an impressive glare. It would probably be more impressive if it were actually directed at Lee, and not some unclear point just over Lee’s shoulder. “Nnnno.”

“I need to get you home, and it would be much easier if you just—“

“ ‘m not doing that,” Neji slurs petulantly. “ ‘s undignified.”

Briefly, Lee wonders why Neji does not consider it undignified that he has gotten so drunk that he can’t stand without leaning against something. But that is an argument to be had with Sober Neji, not Drunk Neji, who has suddenly pressed his fingertips to his lips in an effort to keep from becoming violently ill.

Lee sighs, trying to think of what Gai-sensei would tell him to do – currently, his previous teachings of “take excellent care of the ones you love” and “we must do our best to respect the boundaries of others” are warring in his head. Before he can make a decision, Tenten shouts “ooh, let me!” and jumps on Lee’s back, planting a wet kiss on Lee’s cheek.

“Lessssss go,” she cries, pointing at a random spot off in the distance.

“Okay, Tenten,” Lee answers, reaching up to pat her on the head. “Neji, we’re going—“

But his stubborn teammate is fast asleep, head drooping forward as he slumps against the wall of the bar.

Lee turns to look at Tenten over his shoulder, apologetic. “Forgive me, Tenten, but you will have to get down.”

Tenten clings tighter. “Noooooooo. That’s not fair. Neji doesn’t even _want_ to.”

“Neji is asleep,” Lee points out. “And you are able to walk.”

“I c’n hold myself up,” chirps Tenten, wrapping her legs around his waist. “Then you c’n carry Neji.” She giggles. “Like a little baby.”

Lee is more than strong enough to hold both of his teammates, but he’s less confident that he will be able to manage it with Tenten wriggling about as much as she does now. He has no time to consider the positioning, however, because Neji chooses precisely this moment to begin falling to the ground, leaving Lee no choice but to dart over and scoop him up into a bridal carry.

“Are you alright back there?” he asks.

“Yeah,” replies Tenten, ruffling Neji’s hair over Lee’s shoulder.

Gently, he adjusts his hold on Neji, tucking his arms more securely behind Neji’s knees and shoulder blades. “Very well. We’ll head to the Hyuuga compound first. I will do my best not to go too fast.”

“Awww, that’s no fun,” Tenten pouts, but she nestles her head on his unoccupied shoulder, a gesture which Lee takes to be acquiescent. “Oh, uh, Lee?”

“Yes, Tenten?”

“When we get to the compound, just drop me off ‘round the back.”

That’s an odd request. Tenten’s apartment is in the same building as Lee’s, which is nowhere near the Hyuuga compound. “Why would I do that?”

“Neji says I have to go the back way at night, or else we’ll get caught.” She puts her index finger to her lips. “ _Don’t_ tell Hiashi.”

Ah. Well. That’s one way to have Lee’s suspicions confirmed.

“I won’t,” Lee affirms vaguely, tamping down a blush (for he has no intention of telling Hiashi anything, nor does he plan on dropping Tenten off anywhere other than her own bed).

But Tenten just giggles, having apparently forgotten her brazen admission already. “You guys’re cute,” she sighs. “Look at him all snugged.”

Lee does not need to look to know that Neji has curled up against him in his sleep, face pressed into the crook of his neck as he snores softly, nor does he need Tenten to tell him that it is indeed cute.

“I said _look_ , Lee.”

Tenten might just be the bossiest drunk he’s ever encountered, and he’s seen Sakura after a full bottle of wine. “I believe you,” he says, careful to keep any hint of impatience out of his voice. “Are you ready to go?”

She wiggles a bit, tightens her grip. “Mmhmm.”

Satisfied, Lee turns on his heel to begin walking in the direction of the Hyuuga compound…and nearly collides with a sturdy, jumpsuit-clad man in a wheelchair, whose usually blinding smile falters a bit at the sight of his students so undone.

Lee starts to bow, then abruptly straightens up, nearly throwing Tenten off of his back with the speed of the motion. “Gai-sensei!”

Pushing him down the street is Kakashi-sensei, his shock of white hair the most visible thing about him in the growing dark.

“Rough night?” he drawls, gesturing to the pile of them.

“We had a wonderful time!” Lee chirps back, bouncing Neji a bit as he readjusts him in his arms. “It is just that we, um…”

“We had a drrrrinking contest, and I drank Neji under the _table_ , sensei,” Tenten crows.

“That much is clear,” replies Gai-sensei, unable to resist a smile. “I cannot bring myself to encourage intoxication in my students, and yet I am nevertheless moved by your competitive spirit and the revelry of your youth! Ah, Rival, do you remember the mischief we used to get into at their age?”

Kakashi-sensei slowly raises his exposed eyebrow. “Used to?”

There is a hiccup from somewhere close to Lee’s chest, followed by a soft groan. Lee looks down and sees that thankfully, Neji is still asleep and appears to be vomit-free, but he’d much rather get him put to bed sooner rather than later.

“We ought to get going, sensei,” admits Lee. Some of the bars are beginning to close their doors, and the moon is high overhead. He can feel Tenten starting to get a little too comfortable on his back; it won’t be long before she dozes off, and then he’ll really be in trouble. Perhaps if he throws one of them over each shoulder…

“Very well! I am trusting you to get them home safely, Lee.”

Lee would never dream of doing anything but; they are, after all, his most precious companions. “Yes, Gai-sensei!”

“Onward!” Tenten slurs in agreement.

“Good luck, Lee,” Kakashi-sensei calls as Lee passes. When he thinks they’re out of earshot, Lee hears Kakashi-sensei add, “Yours don’t do anything by halves, do they?”

“No, they do not,” sighs Gai-sensei fondly.


	2. the exchange

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It’s only temporary,” Gai-sensei murmurs to Neji alone, gently resting his hand on his shoulder. Almost like he believes Neji needs the reassurance.
> 
> Neji does not need the reassurance, of course. The opportunity to study under the Copy Ninja himself is thrilling. He is obviously thrilled.
> 
> That is the only reason that his lungs feel like they’re shrinking in on themselves before his first training session with Kakashi-sensei.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to post these more frequently, but they’re getting longer and longer!  
> This was inspired by a YouTube comment I saw a long time ago, about how the teams would work if Naruto and Neji were switched. The concept made me cringe, so naturally, I wrote it.  
> Canon-divergent in that Team 7 and Team Gai meet pre-chuunin exams.  
> A note about the ships: most of these will be either gen or NejiLeeTen, or able to be read either way, or sometimes may just have NejiTen. Going forward, any other ships that I end up adding to these smaller fics will be put in the titles and notes for each chapter – I just don’t want to annoy people looking for other ship content every time this collection updates.  
> Brief references to Neji’s anxiety abound, and he is a little bit casually sexist in the paragraph that begins with “Goodness knows that would never happen…” (Tenten hasn’t put him in his place on this yet, after all). But this is a pretty light story. Hope you all are keeping yourselves safe and well.

Kakashi-sensei, if Gai-sensei is to be believed, is an incredible teacher. His thorough understanding of visual kekkei genkai will undoubtedly bring Neji’s Byakugan to new heights, which is reason enough to justify his transfer to Team 7 for a few weeks. But he has more justifications at the ready when Neji’s teammates pout about the proposal.

(Well, Lee pouts briefly, before hastily slathering a thick layer of enthusiasm over his disappointment. When Gai-sensei goes on to explain that Uzumaki Naruto will temporarily take Neji’s place, Tenten just goes white as a sheet.)

“Once you make chuunin, you’ll start taking missions on your own as well as with your team,” Gai-sensei reminds them. “The three of you are coming up on those days sooner than you think. Your individual talents must be honed as carefully as your teamwork.”

“Of course!” Lee cries, beaming too brightly to be believed. “Neji’s strength is our strength. Right, Tenten?”

Tenten crosses her arms, not meeting Neji or Gai-sensei’s eyes.

“Yeah, sure,” she mumbles.

It’s not just Tenten who looks put out. Even Lee looks apprehensive as he exchanges a look with her, some private disappointment that Neji hasn’t been invited to.

“Neji?”

Neji tears his eyes away from his teammates to meet his teacher’s.

“Your teammates have approved. Shall I make arrangements with Kakashi-sensei?”

He’s not sure what the looks on Lee and Tenten’s faces are, but they don’t look like approval.

“I’d be honored,” Neji answers, pushing their confusing expressions out of his mind.

But he hangs back when they end the day’s training session, more hesitant than usual to make his way home. Neji finds his attention unusually drawn to the small pieces of them scattered across their training grounds: the targets with their faded centers, riddled with scores from Tenten’s kunai; a clump of stray stuffing from the practice dummy Lee had kicked so hard that it burst; the felled, moss-covered tree where they take their breaks, squished together, passing bits of their lunches to each other.

“It’s only temporary,” Gai-sensei murmurs to Neji alone, gently resting his hand on his shoulder. Almost like he believes Neji needs the reassurance.

Neji does _not_ need the reassurance, of course. The opportunity to study under the Copy Ninja himself is thrilling. He is obviously thrilled.

That is the _only_ reason that his lungs feel like they’re shrinking in on themselves before his first training session with Kakashi-sensei.

But when he arrives at Team 7’s usual training grounds the next day, Kakashi-sensei isn’t even there. The Uchiha is working alone on his taijutsu; Haruno Sakura seems to be reading up on chakra control. It strikes Neji as odd that they aren’t doing something together. Perhaps they don’t get on as well as he does with Tenten and Lee...which is not a great sign, considering that he and Tenten and Lee do not always get on particularly well.

And yet his teammates’ absence makes Neji feel suddenly cold, like he’s been abruptly stripped of a heavy blanket and hot fire and cast out into the snow. At least he’d known Lee and Tenten before they’d been put on the same squad. He knows hardly anything about the two genin before him.

_(His stomach is beginning to turn. Ridiculous. These two are less experienced than he is. Presumably less intelligent, less skilled. Why on earth can’t he open his mouth?)_

_(Lee would push him toward them and then they’d have a row about it, if he were here, but he isn’t.)_

_(Neji wishes Lee were here.)_

Neji clears his throat. Sakura looks up; Sasuke doesn’t seem to have heard him.

“Hello,” he begins, pushing through his nerves. “I’m Hyuuga Neji. I’m one of Maito Gai’s–“

“Do you think Kakashi-sensei didn’t tell us you were coming?”

Huh. So the Uchiha heard him after all.

“I thought I’d introduce myself properly,” Neji replies coolly. “I ask your forgiveness for the apparent _intrusion_.”

“Granted,” the Uchiha scoffs, before he turns back to the practice dummy and continues training as if Neji weren’t there at all.

The well of Neji’s patience, which is of questionable structural integrity even on his best days, is quickly starting to feel more like a sieve. “Perhaps I won’t speak at all. Would that suit you?”

“Sasuke, c’mon,” Sakura sighs, a bit half-heartedly. The boy just frowns and sets his angry eyes on Neji.

There’s a familiar posturing in Sasuke’s frosty consideration of him, but Neji can’t place it. A sentiment he could throw over his shoulders and fit into perfectly. A weapon he could twist between his own fingers. It is beyond irritating, only getting worse as Neji’s frustration with Sasuke Uchiha turns inward, pricking at his insides like so many needles.

He _loathes_ this boy.

“Morning,” a lazy voice calls. “Sorry I’m late.”

Oh, he’s arrived. Perfect.

“Kakashi-sensei,” Neji says in greeting, inclining his head respectfully. Behind him, he hears Sasuke snort derisively.

“Yo,” the man drawls back with a small salute.

Patiently, Neji stands at attention and waits for their training exercises to begin. But Kakashi-sensei only takes out a book (something unsavory, as far as Neji can tell) and begins to read. Unfazed, Sasuke and Sakura both return to what they were doing.

After a few moments of deep confusion, Neji asks, “Is this...part of the lesson, sensei?”

Kakashi-sensei blinks down at him. “Oh, uh, no, kiddo.”

“It’s Neji,” he corrects. He will do his best to be flexible, but being called “kiddo” he cannot abide. “If you don’t mind my asking. What _is_ today’s lesson?”

Kakashi-sensei shrugs. “I prefer a hands-off approach.”

Neji generally prides himself on his professional demeanor, but his jaw drops regardless. The genin doing whatever they please, and Kakashi-sensei just reading...what appears to be _filth_? This is chaos. If Gai-sensei could see it.

It simply will not do.

Narrowing his eyes at Kakashi-sensei, Neji turns his attention back to his temporary teammates.

“ _I_ will run us through some drills, then.”

“Go nuts,” Kakashi-sensei answers cheerily.

There is a certain comfort to being in charge that helps dispel his nervous energy. Neji marches over to the other genin, prepared to round them up and start them with a spar, just to see what he’s working with, when Sasuke launches into an aerial kick against the practice dummy and Neji can see almost before it happens, how his ankle is going to roll when he comes down...

He runs over to help him land more safely, but just before he gets there, Sasuke catches himself, barely straightening himself out as he lands.

“Back off,” Sasuke snarls.

“Your form is lacking,” Neji says bluntly. There’s no space for niceties when they’re endangering themselves with poor technique. “You’re liable to break an ankle landing that sloppily.”

Sasuke glares at him. “I don’t need help from _you_.”

“You do, actually,” replies Neji. “If you’ll allow me to demonstrate–“

“Mind your own business,” Sasuke snaps.

_Breathe_ , Neji reminds himself when his outrage tightens his lungs. He can practically feel Tenten’s hand at his back, rubbing idle circles between his shoulder blades to calm him down.

_(Lee would never dismiss him like that. No matter how bad a fight they’d gotten into.)_

Furious, he looks over at Sakura, hoping for back-up, but she seems irritated with Neji for reasons unknown.

“Fine,” Neji answers icily. “You’re welcome to join us when you’re in less of a mood.”

Sasuke scowls; even without his Byakugan, Neji can feel Sasuke’s gaze on the back of his head.

_(A few minutes, and Sasuke will finally shuffle his way over. He’s sure of it. It’s very nearly what Gai-sensei had told Neji on one of their first days of training together, and it had worked on him. Maybe it will knock the Uchiha down a peg.)_

“Sakura,” Neji calls, beckoning for her to come over. “Will you spar with me?”

After another moment or so spent sighing dreamily at Sasuke, she nods.

Sakura’s not bad, Neji thinks, as he weaves around her. Surprisingly strong, with significantly better technique than her wilder teammates. But throughout their match, she’s just not focusing; she keeps looking at Sasuke, who is both pointedly pretending not to be watching Neji fight and is also _not_ her opponent, and so Neji keeps having to pull his punches so that he doesn’t end up sending her to the infirmary.

“What are you staring at him for?” Neji finally huffs.

Sakura comes to a stand-still halfway through a punch. “I’m…I’m not staring at him!” she splutters, turning so vividly pink that Neji can no longer tell where her forehead ends and her hairline begins.

Her blatant lying is ridiculous. She absolutely has been staring at Sasuke almost since Neji got here. This must be the result of some trivial little infatuation of hers, at which Neji can’t help but roll his eyes.

_(Goodness knows that would never happen on his own team. Tenten seems to have a proper handle on her hormones, at least as far as Neji can tell. Hopefully she’ll never be struck by that particular brand of girlish frivolity.)_

“Yes, you have,” Neji insists. “If you can _manage_ it, I’d like for you to keep your eyes off your teammate for one second and focus on the task at—"

It is a sincere miracle that Sakura’s right hook doesn’t land. Neji only just sidesteps her, activating his Byakugan and dropping quickly into a defensive stance.

“You want me to focus?” Sakura spits, clenching her fists. “Fine. _I’m focused_. Let’s go.”

It’s like she’s a completely different person. She charges forward, throwing swing after swing at him and forcing him backward with the sheer unexpected ferocity of her. He dodges a particularly ferocious blow, reaching out with two fingers to stop the chakra flow to her arm…

…and twists around as he sees Sasuke approaching him from behind with a sweeping kick, forcing Neji to abandon his attack on Sakura.

“Good of you to finally join us,” growls Neji.

Sasuke grins wickedly, his eyes brightening as his Sharingan comes alive.

“Not about to let Sakura have all the fun,” he says, before lunging at Neji once more.

* * *

It’s been only a week and Neji is already at the end of his rope. Kakashi-sensei had been impressed with Neji’s ability to wrangle his genin team and seems quite happy to let the arrangement continue. He occasionally interrupts them with some drills of his own, or puts them under more and more subtle genjutsu without telling them, just to see how long it takes them to figure it out (a drill that Gai-sensei cannot run for his own team, and that Neji is finding his Byakugan to be surprisingly useful for). But generally, Kakashi-sensei sits off to the side with his nose stuck in disgusting book after disgusting book. Sakura runs so hot and cold that it’s giving Neji whiplash, alternating between studious dedication to her training and complete disregard for anything that is not Sasuke’s dreamy eyes.

But Sasuke is undoubtedly the most frustrating of them all. He’s proven to be a much more difficult opponent than he seemed he’d be at first glance; after just one fight, Sasuke had perfected every move he’d seen of Neji’s self-taught Gentle Fist, throwing Neji so far off guard that he’d actually _cried_ when he got home. Stubborn, angry tears at the _unfairness_ of it…that with just a look, Sasuke can learn everything that Neji painstakingly taught himself over the last few years. He just can’t seem to stay ahead of the boy. It’s driving him mad like nothing he’s ever known.

Just as he is wondering what he wouldn’t give to be back at his usual training grounds, with his teammates who are so predictable in their irksomeness, someone drags him by his sleeve into an alleyway. On instinct, he prepares to counter-attack before realizing he’s not being attacked, he’s being...hugged.

By Tenten.

“ _Neji_ ,” she sighs, burying her face in his shoulder. “You have no idea how good it is to see you.”

Mortified by her familiarity (and the blush that he feels creeping up his neck), he pulls away from her. “Tenten, what’s gotten into you?”

“Please come back,” she begs. “They’re out of control.”

“Aren’t they always?”

“Not like this,” she says gravely. The look in her eyes is dark, haunted. “They all feed off of each other. Naruto is _insane_. I know you were excited to learn from Kakashi-sensei, so I get it if you want to spend more time with him, but–”

“Kakashi-sensei is ridiculous,” Neji snaps. It feels good to say it out loud. “He’s constantly reading those filthy books of his, not at _all_ punctual, gives his students _no_ real encouragement...”

“Oh no,” Tenten says sympathetically, though she looks a little pleased to hear it.

“...and those two are just _insufferable_ , Tenten.” The words spill out of him faster with each breath. “The Uchiha is the worse of them. I’d rather have Naruto attached to my hip. He’s arrogant as all hell. Won’t listen to a thing anyone tells him. Strutting around like he owns the whole world, I mean, honestly...”

“Gosh, that sounds awful.”

“It is,” he affirms – _what_ is she smirking at him for? “And _Sakura_. It’s exhausting to watch her fawn over him like that. I can tell she’s an intelligent girl, but she’ll spend half the day, you know, ‘oh, how shall I wear my hair, do you think Sasuke will notice if I part it like so?’ She’s constantly distracted.”

Tenten wrinkles her nose. “Ugh.”

“I know,” Neji agrees. “What a waste of her time. I can’t imagine what it’s like when Naruto is with them. It’s a wonder Team 7 are learning _anything_.”

He has been talking so much and so fast that he is a bit out of breath when Tenten considers him and asks, “Are you done?”

Neji thinks on that a moment, then says, “Yes.”

Tenten smiles. “So you’ll come back? At least we’re not as bad as they are, right?”

He’s completely taken aback. Neji has never, not once, thought of his teammates as _bad_. Lee can be annoying, sometimes, but he works hard. Harder than anyone he’s ever known. He’d never admit it out loud, but Lee is very quickly gaining on him in terms of skill, and very, very rarely, his antics can pull a smile from him. And Tenten is whip-smart, holds her own in their spars despite Lee being far stronger and her lacking a kekkei genkai. She makes for good company when Lee and Gai-sensei get too wound up to be reasoned with. She’s good company in general, really, as he’s beginning to find himself in her orbit more frequently than not.

Even Gai-sensei, for all his eccentricity, makes sure to keep him on his toes, always searching for a way to challenge him. And he’s far more openly encouraging. Sometimes his praise makes Neji’s chest feel a little tight, makes him feel like he’s looking at a face more like his own, hearing a voice he hasn’t heard since he was small.

“I think highly of all of you,” Neji asserts. “In fact, I’m more certain than ever that no one else is as worthy of my time.”

“What an honor,” she quips, rolling her eyes. But she’s smiling. “Well, I’ll be happy to have you back. Lee’s missed you, too. It’s not the same.”

Neji blinks. “You missed me?”

_Their wanting him back is not just because of Naruto being...Naruto?_

“Were you even listening to me? Yes, we missed you, _obviously_. You’ve been _gone_.”

That’s odd, isn’t it? That warm, tingly feeling blooming in his chest?

He doesn’t know what makes him do it, but something takes control of Neji’s arms, opening them up to hold her. Mercifully, he regains control of himself quickly enough to rest a hand on her shoulder instead.

“I...missed you, too.”

Her cheeks turn a bit pink as she grins at him. “Yeah, I know. I was listening.”

“ _Neji_!!”

Faster than he can activate his Byakugan, Neji’s swept off his feet and spun wildly around.

“ _Lee_ ,” he hisses, feeling himself turn red. “Put me down.”

“Oh, Neji, I’ve missed you so much!” cries Lee.

There it is again, that little spark flaring to life behind his ribs.

“Fighting Naruto’s shadow clones has made me considerably faster,” Lee chirps. He presses his forehead to Neji’s affectionately, his dark eyes glistening with unshed, impassioned tears. “But nothing is so exhilarating as fighting my rival! I am eager to challenge you and show you what I’ve learned!”

“Get a room,” teases Tenten.

“Alright, really, Lee, put me down,” Neji whines, growing more humiliated every second Lee holds him aloft.

_(Though he’s less annoyed than he wants to be. There is comfort to be found in Lee’s arms, in Tenten’s laughter.)_

_(But they don’t need to know quite how much.)_

* * *

_“Couldn’t get a word out of Hiashi. I don’t know how you put up with that. All I asked was for any signs of over-exertion to look out for – didn’t want to push him too hard and blind him. Nothing. Almost surprised he bothers to let him and the girl out of the house.”_

_Gai acknowledges this with nothing but a soft hum, distracted by his pleasant surprise that Neji has let Lee hold him for so long without having a fit._

_Kakashi musses his hair. “Halfway decent leadership skills on that kid, though. He wrangled mine faster than I thought he would. And he and Sasuke are a good match for each other. Pitting them against each other might teach the both of them better than you or I ever could. Still. Sorry I couldn’t do more for him.”_

_“Oh, I don’t know,” Gai assures him, watching Neji’s lips curl in on themselves as he fights to keep a frown on his face. “He seems to have gathered something.”_


End file.
